Through comparison of higher education transformation in South Africa and the United States, highlights issues confronting leaders and policymakers, including the structure of national mandates, challenges of urgency and abundance, importance of a language of transformation, and issues of legitimate and tested decision-making processes. Offers…

Explores lifelong learning in China, asserting that it is a core concept of modern education but little practiced there. Drawing on examples from other countries, addresses forces behind the rise of lifelong learning (such as the knowledge economy), the role of universities, relevant course structure and teaching methods, the concept of recurrent…

Among the most dynamic influences affecting higher education is the increase in the for-profit postsecondary industry. In 2002, for-profit institutions constituted 12% of the four-year colleges and universities in the United States, continuing a rapid pace of growth that began in the late twentieth century (NCES, 2003). As the economy moves…

This publication offers an overview of the state of diversity in graduate education and considers the racial and ethnic makeup of the nation's faculty. It then offers recommendations for how to improve graduate education of students of color. The monograph is designed to help faculty, administrators and policy makers by offering strategies that…

Universities make an economic contribution to their host territory in two ways. Firstly, there is the direct impact of the initial investment and the effects of students and staff spending and universities' operating expenditure on the surrounding economy. Secondly, universities are also public institutions that carry out missions of higher…

Across the OECD, discussions are taking place amongst policymakers, educational managers and educationalists about the future of higher education. More and more is being demanded of higher education at a time when the funds available are shrinking and the costs are rising. Internationalisation and globalisation have transformed the once benign…

In this keynote address to the 2004 IMHE General Conference in Paris, the author tried to lay out the profound changes that are taking place in society. These changes give rise to a new context in which institutions have to make decisions. Three principle elements characterise the new context: a rightward shift in political thinking, an…

The term "university" has a longstanding history, yet its definition remains highly contentious at the turn of the century. According to conventional scholarship, the first university initially appeared as far back as the 12th century with the formation of the University of Paris and the University of Bologna (circa 1150 AD). Other scholars,…

The development of the knowledge economy is placing universities at the heart of economic and social development processes in relation to their teaching, research and outreach functions. This new engagement places pressure on universities to consider the need for internal transformations to make them "fit for purpose" to meet their new more…

The research-intensive and competitive knowledge society is putting HEIs (higher education institutions) under the spotlight. While many HEIs around the world do not proclaim or wish to be research-intensive institutions the majority desire to intensify their research activity because it is seen as a sine qua non of higher education. Accordingly,…

In this paper we examine the tensions resulting from the transformation processes going on in research and teaching, typical at traditional universities that have been actively developing their research mission. We will also look at universities that only recently decided to focus on research and wonder if they will be able to better manage or…

Governments of developed nations use a variety of policy instruments to enhance university research and knowledge transfer capabilities. These include advocacy, persuasion and information; consultation and committees of enquiry; creation of major research centres and commercialisation agencies, and investment in research infrastructure; grants,…

Prima facie, in the context of higher education, "entrepreneurialism" offers an example of globalisation: the idea presages a sense of systems of higher education converging across the world. However, entrepreneurialism is not undifferentiated but is to be found in different modes. Various axes identified in the paper offer spectra of…

US higher education and distinct state systems such as in California offer comparative models for UK higher education. This essay provides a comparative analysis of US and UK higher education, followed by a description of the development, and contemporary structure of California's system. California offers a broadly accessible network of colleges…

Higher Education is widely seen as a crucial ingredient in the regional economic development mix, and as fundamental to the development of the knowledge economy (Barclays, 2002). Indeed the Higher Education Funding Council for England has issued broad guidelines for benchmarking good practice in assessing regional development contribution of a…